Board may seek vote on elected officials' pension contribution levels

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Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer has proposed a ballot measure to require that all county elected officials pay their share of their pensions.

He and co-author Supervisor Janet Nguyen also want to force supervisors to begin making their pension contributions earlier than other officials.

Their moves come months after the supervisors took similar votes. This time, a ballot measure amending the charter could only be undone by voters. The supervisors submitted the proposal for the Nov. 5 board agenda.

Many politicians are looking to back pension reform as municipalities struggle with heavy retirement debt, and a few cities have declared bankruptcy. Spitzer is considered a likely candidate for district attorney, and Nguyen is running for state Senate.

“If the voters could order us to work for free,” Spitzer said, “they would.”

The Orange County Employees Retirement System had a $5.7 billion unfunded liability as of Dec. 31. That's the difference between what the retirement system has promised current and future retirees, and what it has set aside to pay them.

Today, some elected officials pay more into the system than others. Non-elected employees who aren't in public safety contribute their full pension share.

If the board approves the measure, voters would likely see a charter amendment on the June 2014 ballot, and officials could begin the full pension contributions in January 2015.

“I fully support the concept of elected officials paying their full pension contribution,” Sheriff Sandra Hutchens wrote in an email, “particularly since we are asking our county employees to do the same.”

State law prohibits changing pension formulas for current elected officials, as their election serves as a contract for benefits. But all county elected seats – from district attorney to auditor-controller – are up for grabs in 2014.

In May, supervisors made a resolution to require county executives and elected officials (including supervisors) to pay their full share, with the executives beginning payments in June and elected officials in 2015.

Supervisor John Moorlach, who has been criticized for advocating pension reform while having a better plan than rank-and-file employees, devised a method to begin paying his full share sooner. He is termed-out and expected to run for another office in 2014.

“I said I would go where my managers go,” Moorlach said Friday. He expects a $16,000 annual cut from his paycheck.

Working with County Counsel Nick Chrisos and the Auditor-Controller's Office, Moorlach arranged to make tax-deductable contributions to the county, with the funds applying to his retirement. The board approved the arrangement unanimously in June, although Spitzer later questioned its legality.

Moorlach has been making the payments for months, while Spitzer and Nguyen held off. Supervisors Pat Bates and Shawn Nelson have declined to take a pension.

Spitzer says an opinion from an outside law firm supports his approach.

Pension contributions are generally split into the employee's share and the employer's share. When the economy was better, the county agreed to cover the full cost for some officials, including the employee's share.

But general workers have agreed to pick up their share since at least 1978, Orange County General Employees Association General Manager Nick Berardino said.

“It's about time the elected officials and department heads start paying their employee's share,” he said. “It has been like 40 years in the desert and screaming at the top of our lungs to get them to do it.”

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